Aptamer Group PLC (AIM:APTA), the producer of Optimer binders, rose close to 25% in early trading on Friday after it announced it has won several contracts worth a total of £507,000.
Four new deals were signed over the last three weeks following on from what the life science firm said had been “a difficult twelve months”.
All the new contracts are for the current 2024 financial year and the cash from the deals will be realised over the next six months.
It is an important step in pushing towards the group’s full-year revenue targets, with the company having accounted for the four deals when it updated investors on its pipeline earlier this week.
The first deal is with “a top ten pharmaceutical company” and requires Aptamer to provide Optimer binders to help develop new methods for gene therapy.
Aptamer will also work with an American gene therapy company to develop a neurodegenerative disease therapy.
The other deals relate to a continuation of a contract with a vaccine developer and a new agreement with a genetic medicine company.
Earlier this week, the group announced its cash balance was £200,000 and it needed to raise more funds as trading income would not be enough to support operations.
Aptamer opened on Friday at around 5p.